Chapter 11: Rescue

Flowing fire poured down from the flaming mountains like deadly rivers of heat, which made the air unbearably hot. The flaming mountains roared with an unrelenting fury. More ash began falling from the sky than before, making it hard to breath. This only made Ruby, Ducky, Petrie, and Spike more frightened as they went along.

To make things worse, the bright-circle had now been completely blocked out by the dark clouds above, leaving the only the harsh blinding glow of the flowing fire as their source of light.

"I-I wish Littlefoot and Chomper were here with us." Ducky whimpered as they walked over the path of land with the fire flowing beneath them.

"M-Me t-too." Petrie stuttered, hiding behind Cera's frill.

Cera ignored Ducky and Petrie's sentiments as she kept walking. The bleeding had stopped, but her leg still stung a bit to walk on and the bite mark inflicted by Chomper was still there.

Ruby herself was feeling rather conflicted. This really did not seem like the easy way that Cera had promised. In fact, she now starting to regret not going with Littlefoot and Chomper.

Spike, being easily distracted, spotted a small bush and immediately stopped. He bit down on the bush and tried pulling it out of the ground.

"Spike, do not stop!" Ducky cried as she jumped off of his back and tried to yank the plant out of his mouth. "We must stick together!"

Seeing that her brother and sister were falling behind, Ruby quickly went back and started pushing Spike to go forward. "We have to keep going, Spike!" She urged. "We cannot not keep going!"

Cera didn't seem to acknowledge or even care that three of her comrades had now fallen behind. She continued on the trail until she and Petrie came reached a small gap in the path. Below them was a pit full of an ominous black goo, bones of other dinosaurs who had been unfortunate enough to fall in added to the disturbing image. Cera remembered her father telling her of sticky pits, because once you got in them, there was no way to get out.

Masking her fear, the young three-horn walked over to the edge of the gap. Though it was small, it would still be a difficult jump, with one misstep meaning her doom in the black substance below. As she backed up to get a running start, the ground suddenly began to tremble as the flaming mountains looked ready to spew more flowing fire from the depths of they're heated bowels.

Petrie clung tightly to Cera's frill, nearly falling off and loosening his grip as the rumbling soon stopped. Before he could readjust himself in a more firm position, without warning, Cera dashed forward and leaped over the gap.

But while Cera landed safely on the other side, her sudden leap of faith caused Petrie to lose his grip!

The tiny flyer shrieked as he clumsily whipped around, trying desperately to stay in the air before falling straight down into the black goo. He hit the goo with a soft 'splash' briefly going under before resurfacing, gasping for breath.

"Cera! I fall off!" Petrie shouted frantically, struggling to get out but only sinking deeper and deeper into the muck. Cera, however, hadn't noticed that the flyer had fallen off and kept walking until she was completely out of sight.

Panicking, Petrie thrashed around wildly. He screamed and yelled as loud as he could, calling out for someone, anyone, to come save him.

"Augh! RUBY! DUCKY! SPIKE! HEEEEELP!"

Littlefoot and Chomper continued on their way, following the bright circle. Littlefoot still looked ahead, his scowl had faded a little, but it was still there as he kept walking.

Chomper, meanwhile, kept looking over his shoulder. He was worried about the others. He didn't want to leave Littlefoot, but he also didn't want to leave their friends. Though he too was mad at them for going with Cera after she had insulted their mother, he knew in his heart that he couldn't hate them, not after everything they had been through together.

His mind now made up, Chomper stopped in his tracks. "Littlefoot?" He spoke up.

Littlefoot turned around to face his little brother. "Yeah?"

The little biter looked down for a moment before he summoned the courage to look the long-neck in the eyes. "We should go back."

To say Littlefoot was surprised would be an understatement as he blinked in shock at what the sharp-tooth had just suggested. While Chomper's expression didn't look angry, looking more solemn than anything, he could see in his eyes was a stubbornness which he hadn't had before.

"What?" Littlefoot questioned, sounding more angered than he meant to be. "Why?"

"I know what Cera said was mean and it made me angry too," Chomper explained, "but what about our other friends? Ruby? Ducky? Spike? Petrie? We can't just abandon them!"

"We didn't abandon them!" Littlefoot rebuked, still upset. "They were the ones who left us!"

Chomper winced, stiffening apprehensively. "We all abandoned each other!" He replied. "We all went our separate ways without even trying to stop each other!"

"But you heard what they said!" Littlefoot retorted. "They'd rather go the 'easy way' than go the right way."

"Which is why we should have stopped them!" Chomper said, now growing frustrated.

"Different herds of dinosaurs can't do anything together because we can never get along!" Littlefoot shouted. "You saw what happened when we tried to be a herd!"

"I'm a sharp-tooth! Your a long-neck! And you and your family still accepted me!" Chomper angrily pointed out.

"That was different!" Littlefoot argued. "You were just a hatchling! You had no one!"

"The others were also alone," Chomper said. "And we were all fine with staying together!"

"We were never a herd!" Littlefoot yelled. "None of us were the same species!"

"Then why was I accepted into your herd?!"

At that final question, whatever Littlefoot was going to say before died in his throat, his expression changing from anger to surprise. He looked to see Chomper's expression of anger, but with tears in his eyes that threatened to fall.

"Why?" Chomper continued, his voice shaking. "Why would you long-necks accept me, a sharp-tooth, into your family? You all knew I'd just grow up to be like any other sharp-tooth, like any other monster, and you still took me in."

Littlefoot wanted to reply, but for some reason he couldn't.

"A herd, a family isn't just something your born into," Chomper said. "It's about those who you hold close you in your heart. Siblings, parents, and friends are all part of our family. Our family let me stay, even though I was a sharp-tooth. No matter what kind of dinosaur you are, what you eat, or where you come from, it doesn't matter as long as you still care about each other. And even though mother..." He paused for a moment, taking in a shaky breath, "even though mother is... gone, she's still in our hearts, she understood this. We'll never forget her because she's family."

Littlefoot continued to stare at Chomper as he continued.

"Cera, Ducky, Ruby, Petrie and Spike are just like us, a bunch of lost kids just trying to find a place to call home. They're our family too and they need us just like we need them. Because we're not just a herd, we're family."

After that, there was nothing but silence.

Finally, Littlefoot looked away. He realized that he was just making up excuses as to why he was angry. Chomper was absolutely right, and he knew it. Even though mother had told him and Chomper that different species didn't do anything together, he knew deep down at the bottom of his heart that his mother would never want him to turn his back on those in need, no matter what species they were, and now he felt guilty for doing so.

"I'm sorry." He mumbled, his voice barely above a whisper, almost on the verge of tears.

Chomper's expression softened, a sad smile crossing his lips as he walked over and hugged his adopted brother.

"But it's not too late," He said. "We can still catch up to them if we go now."

Littlefoot looked to the little sharp-tooth and smiled. "Then we better get going." He replied.

Chomper nodded, his smile growing bigger.

So, with a newfound motivation and determination, Littlefoot and Chomper turned back and raced towards the burning mountains.

Back at the burning mountains, Ruby and Ducky were still trying to push Spike on his way, but the spike-tail was still eating the bushes. Just then, the ground began to shake as more flowing fire exploded from the burning mountains. The flowing fire came rushing down the stream as the shaking suddenly broke, sending the three drifting out into the center of the fiery river.

"Help!" Ducky cried.

"Cera, where are you?!" Ruby called.

Littlefoot and Chomper didn't stop running for a second as they approached the flaming mountains. They didn't stop running for a second as they followed the sounds of shouting, the air growing thicker and hotter the closer they got. Reaching the edge of a rocky hill, they stopped and looked down to see that the piece of land Ducky, Ruby, and Spike were standing on was now almost submerged in the flowing fire.

"Littlefoot! Chomper!" Ducky shouted upon seeing them.

"Ducky!" Chomper called back as he and Littlefoot rushed down the hill to the edge of the river.

"Hang on!" Littlefoot told them when he spotted a large jagged rock sticking up at the edge of the flowing fire. He then rammed his head into it, trying to knock it over. After a few tries, the rock finally fell over, creating a stepping stone for Ducky, Ruby and Spike to cross over to safety. As the rock fell into the flowing fire, some of splattered, nearly hitting Ducky. The young swimmer cried out as she slipped off Spike's back and fell, but Ruby quickly caught her.

"Quick! This way!" Littlefoot said as the three hastily made their way towards the shore just as the rocks sank into the flowing fire.

But the situation only grew more dire when the group also heard Petrie calling for help a short distance away. Following the flyer's panicked calls, they managed to find their way to the small gap over the black goo. Looking down, they managed to spot Petrie, who by now was almost completely submerged in the goo.

"We're coming, Petrie!" Chomper shouted as they jumped over the gap and raced down towards the black pit. Without even thinking for their own safety, they all jumped in at once, splashing the goo everywhere.

One thing that everyone could acknowledge when they got in was that this goo was not like anything they had been in. It was smoother than water but thicker than mud, which made it rather difficult to move around in.

Littlefoot wrapped his long tail around a pillar of rock sticking out of the goo near the shore, giving them an anchor while he wrapped his front feet around Ruby's tail. Ruby did mostly the same thing, grabbing Spike's tail in case they needed to pull everyone back. Chomper and Ducky, meanwhile, were on Spike's back, but Chomper quickly dove in as Spike bit his tail while Ducky stood on his head to reach Petrie.

"Littlefoot, Chomper, Ducky, Ruby, Spike!" Petrie cried joyfully. "Petrie am so happy!"

Ducky reached out and managed to grab Petrie, but in doing so slipped off of Chomper's head and fell into the goo while Petrie managed to get on his head. Now Ducky was the one who was slowly sinking into the goo. Chomper reached out with his small arms, stretching them as far as they would go, just grasping Ducky by her crest.

Now that they had everyone, Littlefoot tried to pull them all back towards the shore. However, he found that task much more difficult as the black goo began to drag them down.

To make things worse, the pillar of rock Littlefoot had his tail wrapped around completely collapsed, much to their horror. The six children fell into the goo and began to slowly sink.

"HELP!" They all cried even though it was futile, panicking as they all thrashed around in the goo, trying frantically to get out.

"HELP!"

Cera dashed away from the savage dome-head that was quickly closing in on her. Now normally dome-heads were leaf eaters much like her, yet these ones seemed unnaturally aggressive, almost insane. Cera quickly moved out of the way as the dome-head slammed it's hard head into the ground, shattering several rocks that would have been her bones.

The cavern Cera had found herself in was lit by a very dim light, making it difficult to see. Just when she thought she had gotten away, another dome-head ambushed her, lunging in front of her. Once again, Cera quickly jumped out of the way before she could be smashed.

After the second one recovered, the small pack of dome-heads chased the young three-horn as she tried desperately to get away. Before she knew what was happening, one of the dome-heads managed to get right in front of her. Cera immediately stopped in her tracks and tried to go back, but found herself blocked off by the other dome-head behind her.

Trapped between the two, Cera had no other choice but to jump off of a nearby ledge, just narrowly avoiding their bone-crushing head-butt. She let out a high-pitched scream as she fell, her limbs flailing in air.

As she came down, Cera tried to land properly, but missed her footing, causing her to tumble down to the bottom of the slope. When she managed to make herself stand, she found herself surrounded on all sides by the dome-heads who were now slowly closing in on her.

"HELP ME!" Cera screamed in pure fear, as it was all she could do. "HELP!"

But just as it looked like the dome-heads were about to finish her off, they were suddenly interrupted by a foreboding howl. They all looked to entrance of the cavern to see a giant abomination of a creature with a strange black goo as it's body.

The creature had a large trunk that stuck out from most of it's body, the lower part of it's torso seemed to made up of another body entirely with four legs that trudged forward, leaving puddles of black goo in it's wake. But the most terrifying aspect of it was it's three heads, each looking more deformed than the other, one even having a small tail poking out of it and big flappy ears.

It was unlike anything Cera had seen before, and it terrified her. As the creature came closer, it continued making that foreboding howl, this time with a guttural growl in it's roar.

The dome-heads seemed equally frightened by the strange creature as it was enough to make them turn coward and run.

Cera, however, didn't run. She was almost frozen with fear. Her mind was screaming at her, telling her to run, but her legs wouldn't move. She could only stand there as the creature was now directly in front of her.

"Get away! Get away from me!" Cera yelled, swiping her paw at the creature, trying to be brave but failing miserably. The creature then reached down with it's big black trunk and snagged her by the tail. Cera let out a scream as it lifted her off the ground, still dangling her by her tail. "Stop it! Let go of me!" She shouted.

"HELP!" Cera cried, covering her eyes, not knowing what else to do. "HELP! RUBY, DUCKY, PETRIE, SPIKE, HELP!"

Just then, to her surprise, the abomination suddenly spoke.

"Cera, it is us!"

"It is us, Cera! Us it is!"

Cera's eyes snapped open.

That was both Ducky and Ruby's voices.

Now feeling quite relieved, Cera twisted her body enough to see her friends. But her joy was instantly gone she noticed Littlefoot and Chomper among them. And then, they all began laughing.

While Cera had been chased around by the dome-heads, the others had nearly sunken into the black goo pit from before, but had managed to gather enough strength to pull themselves out.

Still being held up by Littlefoot, Cera squirmed about, trying to shake herself out of his grip. Littlefoot ultimately let go of her tail, letting her fall into a small puddle of black goo with a loud 'splat'.

"I knew it was you all along!" Cera said angrily as they kept laughing. "I knew! I did!"

No one seemed to hear her as they kept laughing hysterically at the young three-horn. Most of them, such as Littlefoot, Chomper, and Ruby, felt a grim satisfaction to Cera's little panic, even if the prank on her wasn't exactly what they had in mind.

Cera scowled even harder, her face now turning a bit red with anger. "Oh, get out of my way!" She growled, pushing past them as she stormed off. She stuck her horn up high defiantly but didn't look where she was going as she stepped on a puddle of black goo and slipped, falling flat on her front.

The others all laughed harder at her misfortune. Ducky held her sides as she knelt over, Petrie flopped on his back as he laughed so hard he could barely breathe, Chomper lay on the ground, pounding his little fists as he howled with laughter, Ruby had to lean onto Littlefoot for support as she laughed, but even Littlefoot was having a hard time standing as well.

Once again, Cera got up and stuck her horn up high and began to walk away again. This time, she ended walking straight into one of the pointed rocks from the ceiling off the cavern. This once again prompted the group to laugh even harder at her constant string of blunders.

Finally having enough, Cera glared at them before turning away and walking down the slope towards a nearby entrance covered by falling water.

As the group's laughter dwindled and eventually faded, they looked down the slope to see Cera heading further and further away from them. They all suddenly felt a bit of guilt in each of them. Perhaps they had been a little too harsh?

"Cera?" Ducky asked, but the three-horn simply ignored her.

"Cera, come back!" Littlefoot called.

"If its about scaring you then we're sorry!" Chomper added, but Cera simply ignored them.

"We should leave her alone." Ruby spoke up, much to the others surprise. "She needs to be alone."

Though reluctant, but understanding, the group walked off, following the path through the cavern. Chomper stopped for a moment, taking one last sad glance at Cera. For some reason, Chomper now felt a pang of sympathy in his heart for the young three-horn.

Littlefoot noticed this as he stopped and looked at the young biter. "Chomper? Aren't you coming?"

Chomper looked towards Littlefoot. "Yeah, you guys go ahead, I'll catch up with you in a moment."

Deciding to not to ask why, Littlefoot simply nodded before going on with the others. Now alone, Chomper slowly made his way down to the bottom of the slope, he quietly walked over to where the young three-horn was sitting.

Cera didn't even seem to notice him. Then, as Chomper approached her, he heard a strange sound. He instantly recognized the sound as muffled sobbing. And it was there that Chomper saw something he thought he would never see in his life.

Cera was crying.

Now a bit more cautious, Chomper lightly made his way over to the young three-horn. "Cera?"

Hearing his voice, Cera looked up and turned to look towards him. Chomper was surprised to see tears rolling down her cheeks and genuine sadness in her eyes.

"What do you want?" She questioned, choking a bit as she was trying desperately to stop more of her tears from falling.